Designing Ecological Tourism (DET) — a collaborative research platform that investigates the challenges faced by ecotourism in the developing world — has launched a new website to showcase its findings: www.designingecologicaltourism.com.

Led by Assistant Professor Aziza Chaouni of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, DET has brought together faculty members from the University of Toronto and Ryerson University, as well as international experts, local stakeholders, government officials and graduate students.

DET’s goal is to develop and disseminate transferable tools, strategies, and visions for low impact forms of tourism, which safeguard fragile environments and invigorate local economies. It seeks not only to introduce graduate students to working in developing world contexts, but also to nurture collaborative research environments that combine the three disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, and planning with ecology, economics, and sociology.

Sponsored principally by the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism (Société Marocaine d’Ingénierie Touristique, SMIT), DET research is conducted through applied seminars, advanced design studios, and in situ summer workshops. Its research has also compiled its research into two forthcoming publications: Visiting the Desert: Natural Reserve and Ecotourism in the Sahara and Revenez au désert to be published in the winter of 2012.

In the Winter of 2012, both SMIT and RSCN (Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature), Jordan will contribute to sponsoring DET’s research. DET’s partner school ISITT (Institut Supérieur International de Tourisme de Tanger) has provided it with the necessary support to develop the marketing and management dimensions of its ecotourism research.

For more information on DET, please contact:
info@designingecologicaltourism.com